Learn something new with the ISTE Professional Learning Series

Ready to learn something new? Expand your digital toolkit and explore new ideas for learning and teaching with the latest season of the ISTE Professional Learning Series. Presented by members for members, these free web events deliver new ideas and strategies right to your computer so you can catch up on the latest trends — anytime, anyplace.

Not an ISTE member? Join us today to get hours of free professional learning right at your fingertips!

Struggling to embed digital citizenship in your curriculum? Make it a project! Get ideas for engaging students in digital citizenship project-based learning (PBL) from Marialice B.F.X. Curran, associate professor at the University of Saint Joseph. Through her research, Curran has found that the combination of student voice and PBL promotes a positive school climate while giving students valuable digital age skills. This session will be useful for teachers, teacher trainers, tech coaches, librarians and media specialists.

The data and results that standardized testing provides can reveal important trends in student achievement. But in the digital age, there are many ways your students can show their learning. The real test is getting them excited about demonstrating what they know in nontraditional ways. Tech integration coach and former Teacher of the Year Patricia Brown offers a few digital tools that can help.

Like students, teachers consume and learn new information in very different ways. For instance, email is not always the best way to communicate. Katie Ritter, director of curriculum and technology integration at Forward Edge in Ohio, presents a number of free resources to help ed tech coaches differentiate communication and reach their staff where they’re at.

Are budget woes keeping you from incorporating more STEM into your curriculum? Find out how to teach science, technology, engineering and math with free and low-cost household items, such as spaghetti, index cards, lifesavers, pipe cleaners and shoeboxes. Third grade STEM teacher Julianne Ross-Kleinmann explains how to apply the Boston Museum of Science Engineering Design Process to get your school community involved and offers ideas for lesson plans you can adapt for K-5 and beyond.

E-Rate has undergone a lot of changes over the past year. Craig Thibaudeau, ISTE’s chief external relations officer, and Jon Bernstein, ISTE’s legislative counsel in Washington, D.C., explain the progress that’s been made so far to give students and teachers around the nation 24/7 broadband access as well as what still remains to be done. Get an insider’s analysis of E-Rate and ongoing efforts to close the homework gap.

Gamification — the application of game play to learning — is all the rage in classrooms. Middle school English teacher, education blogger, author and conference presenter Michele Haiken demonstrates a number of ways to bring games and play into your classroom. Learn how to promote learning and deepen student understanding using tools like Kahoot! and platforms like Classcraft Games. Find out what gamification looks like, how teachers are using it and how you can level up your teaching with this engaging approach to learning.

Digital stories are an engaging and powerful way for students to demonstrate their learning. Instructional media and technology teacher Gwynn Moore explains how to make the creation of digital stories a manageable, engaging and paperless process using Google Apps for Education. Find out how students can brainstorm with Drawings, draft and revise with Docs, create storyboards with Spreadsheets, locate royalty-free images and audio online, and publish with WeVideo.

Even young children get excited about and learn from connecting with students from other cultures. Tech coordinator, innovation consultant and world traveler Margaret Powers showcases a number of projects and digital tools — from Book Creator and Hopscotch to Thinglink and Google Apps — that students as young as PK can use to build relationships with their peers in partner classes around the world. Discover the benefits of creating a global classroom in the early grades and see some inspiring project examples.

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ISTE 2015 closing keynote speaker and former Illinois Teacher of the Year Josh Stumpenhorst has come a long way since he attended his first ISTE Conference & Expo in 2010. And he attributes it all to being willing to leave his comfort zone. Here are five ways all educators can use this piece of advice to up the innovation ante in their classrooms.